Castle Mamba X SCT PRO 1410 Combo Review

Castle Creations is well known for putting out more power than just about any other brand on the market. Now days they still want to put out the most power, but also want that power to be easier to drive. Hence the reason Castle has unleashed the Mamba X SCT PRO 1410 Combo on the world. The latest Castle combo is capable of being run sensored, or as a non-sensored set-up. How strong did we find the power? Is it really a lot smoother than older non-sensored systems? How easy is it to drive on high cell counts? Read on to find out…

Test Platform- We used the Castle system in three different vehicles- a Pro-Line PRO-SCB buggy, a ARRMA Granite monster truck, and a 2wd Traxxas Slash. We ran it on 2 and 3S LiPo batteries supplied by MaxAmps and Dynamite RC. We used servos from Hitec and Futaba, while connectors were always 6.5mm Castle. Lastly, we ran the system in sensored mode for the vast majority of our testing.

How It Drives- So, the million dollar question, just how does the Mamba X combo drive? It drives like a fine sensored system, but, it seems to have more power and can be run on higher cell counts. For example, when driving the Castle system in our PRO-SCB on a 3S MaxAmps pack, the buggy was buttery smooth right off the bottom, much more so than a traditional non-sensored system. The smoothness carried right on through the mid-range all the way up the upper reaches of the RPM range. The Mamba X was very smooth from the very bottom, to the very top. That is not to say it wasn’t fast, it was, it just lays down the power differently than in previous versions, and it does so with absolutely zero cogging.

When we were driving our 2wd Slash with the Castle system installed on a dusty concrete floor, it was much easier to give fine throttle inputs in an attempt to find more traction. The linearity of the power was very nice. On the other end of the spectrum, while driving our Granite on 3S with the system on relatively grippy pavement, the additional throttle control made it easier to keep from pulling wheelies all the time.

Driving the Mamba X system was a great blend of raw wattage and control, something that previous systems from Castle simply could not do. Older systems had a ton of power, but were slightly rough from a dead stop, then they had a big surge in power right off the bottom, then a flat mid-range that felt smooth until the last 10% of throttle input where things got crazy again. The Mamba X system was much better at providing the perfect amount of usable power when you needed it.

As far as pure power was concerned, it reminded us a lot of previous Castle systems. The system on 2S was really, really fast. On 3S we could pop wheelies at any speed and blow tires off their rims. The triple down at the local track was easy to get over on 2S, on 3 we were landing in the pipes at the end of the lane. During speed runs, the power system was never the limited factor, tires and drive-line parts were. No, we don’t have a dyno, but from just pulling trigger we would have to say it is right in line for raw power output with the previous Castle 1410 system.

Misc Notes-

The footprint on the Mamba X is slightly larger than the older Mamba Max Pro. While not a small ESC, we didn’t have any problem mounting it in our test vehicles.

Most of our testing took place in temps between 30 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. When running on 3S with “normal” basher gearing, both the Castle motor and ESC got warm (120 and 134 respectively in our PRO-SCB), but not dangerously so.

The Mamba X doesn’t come with a battery connector so you’ll need to solder one up.

For all you guys used to running non-sensored power systems, make sure you put wire “A” and wire “B” and wire “C” into their proper spots on the speedo. On a non-sensored system it doesn’t really matter (except to make sure forward and reverse are correct), while running sensored you need to have all 3 plugged in their proper port.

The new aluminum case on the Mamba X proved to be durable while looking sharp.

The length of wire supplied on the motor and on the speedo worked well in our applications. Yes, it was too long for all three of our installs, but that is much better than being too short.

Summary

Car Show Rating: B Our test crew really like the looks on the Mamba X combo. The new speedo has a trendy black look while the green anodized motor lets everyone know you aren’t messing around for power.

Bash-A-Bility: A While our test period was fairly short, we experienced no issues with the Castle system. It survived our normal day-in-day-out bashing without fault.

Power: A Straight up, the system ripped. It was hard to tell if it put out more overall power, or less, than the previous system from Castle, all we do know is that it put out wayyy more power than our test vehicles could fully use.

Fun Factor: A What is there not to like about crazy power? Even better, it had crazy power with a buttery smooth delivery on 3S.

Value: B At just over $200 we felt like the Mamba X system was a solid value.

Big Squid Rating: A- The new Castle Creations Mamba X combo is a blast to drive. Not only does it have the intense power that you crave, but it also has the ultra-linear power delivery that can make you a better driver. If you are looking to jump into the world of a sensored brushless system, we can highly recommend the Mamba X to you.